There is an Indian bollywood movie called New York which narrates a story about the lives of three college students in New York City. The three college students are named Maya, Omar and Sam. Maya and Sam are friends with Omar and met him in New York only. Omar dreamed of coming to New York City to live a better life and establish a close friendship with the two friends. They had come to New York City drinking at bars, racing and playing sports with white American peers or strangers during the beginning of their stay. However, Omar, Maya and Sam had to face a tragic event of the 9/11 attack that changed their lives forever. They have started experiencing frequent encounters with the FBI agencies and police unfairly. Their life in New York City transitions from having fun to having to endure intense struggles.
The movie took place in New York City, because it was the place where people had grown their distrust and dislike for Muslims. It had also tried to show the rise of Islamophobia that is being ignored by many citizens. For example, Muslims in New York City were not being helped when attacked by a citizens for stereotypes regarding the terrorist image. According to a story told by the Commission of Human Rights on CNN, a Muslim woman found herself being beaten up at a restaurant in Brooklyn by teens who believed she was a terrorist. Unfortunately, nothing had been done by customers in the restaurant to address the situation. Regardless of laws in New York City prohibiting acts of discrimination or prejudice, people do not feel the need to keep them in mind when it comes to groups such as Muslims. Due to the tragedy that terrorists cause occasionally in New York City even to this day, people feel that they have the right to hurt Muslims as they are considered as “bad” in society. The movie had tried to depict Islamophobia by showing a scene where Sam was being stripped of his humanity in jail from police officers who made an unfair belief that he was part of a terrorist attack due to his religion although he was innocent. Sam would often be locked in a cell the size of a dining table and be naked without clothes. He has been freed from jail after several months, but was ill equipped to lead a normal life just like non-Muslims in New York. Sam had lost his innocence and he had believed that the FBI was indebted to him and had done nothing to help him after finding out about his innocence.
The film had also taken place in New York City to make the audience think about how Muslims may have been viewed prior to the 9/11 attacks. The scenes in the movie that might make people think about people’s perspectives of Muslims before the tragedy were related to Sam and his two best friends getting along well with Americans and being able to make friends with them easily. It implicitly shows that Muslims have been able to live carefree without much tension about people judging them negatively. New York City has not always been filled with hate against Muslims throughout its existence. This could be seen by the fact that many cultural centers established in New York City without any problem prior to the attack. The 1960s had been a time when Muslims felt welcome and free to establish their beliefs in New York City, so many mosques such as the ICCNY (Islamic Cultural Center of New York) were built. Before 9/11, Muslims were recognized by their positive efforts in shaping Brooklyn. Unfortunately, prejudice against Muslims has increased and the number of new mosques being created in NYC has slowed down ever since 9/11 despite the fact that mosques have always been seen as a good representation of NYC for a century. Otherwise, they have been viewed as a rich addition to the religious and architectural diversity in NYC.
To conclude, it is important to note that certain events can truly change a person’s life or people’s perspectives of others in a positive or a negative way. The movie teaches people that Muslims were not always seen badly in New York City and that stereotypes can hurt more than it helps. Regardless of religion or any other identities that people may hold, it would be necessary to remember that everyone is different and cannot all hold the same thoughts and ideas. In other words, every Muslim cannot have ideologies or thoughts of a terrorist. While New York City has not always been accepting of diversity, its foundation has been made from the cultural and religious diversity of immigrants from all over the world. Throughout New York’s history, prejudice and discrimination has been preventing New York from growing and has instead caused its strong base to deteriorate. Even today, the increased hate crimes against Islamic people since 2001 has prevented NYC from being able to progress politically as people are not willing to do much about it.